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Hi All

I have recently purchased a Behringer EP2500 Amp to go with my Behringer PMP3000 Mixer Amp, I bought the EP2500 so i could have a little more oommph, but i paid the price on saturday when i blew both my Peavey Pro 15 speakers.
I now need to replace the speakers so would like some advice on makes and wattage etc so it doesn't happen to me again.
Many thanks

P.s I am in the UK

Well before you go and buy another set of speakers, I'd sit down and figure out what you did to blow your current ones. That Amplifier should actually be a pretty good match for those speakers. It pumps 500W/channel at 8 ohms, those speakers are capable of 400W Continuous and 800W Peak so there's no reason if used properly that the EP2500 would be a problem for those speakers.

When you say that you "blew" both speakers, what do you mean exactly. Did the cones separate from the frame, are there other signs of over-excursion (like serious physical damage to the speaker itself)? What are you seeing or hearing that makes you think they're blown.

Some things to consider, what do your meters on your console look like at a typical show. Are they regularly hitting 0db or higher on the scale? If so you're probably pushing you amplifier into clipping, and that is not good for your speakers regardless of their power handling. Did you see any peak/clip lights on your amp or anywhere on the mixer, again a sign that something's being pushed beyond it's limitations. Have you checked your cables to ensure that everything is OK there and that maybe what you think is a speaker propblem isn't actually just a bad connection somewhere?

As far as what speakers to get to go with an EP2500, there are plenty of them out there. I'd look for something with a 250W RMS / 500W Continuous / 1000W Peak spec or something in that ballpark anyway. Again, what you had should have been fine too if you're using the equipment properly.

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DJ Tony
Let It Rip Karaoke

Hi
The speakers suddenly lost all sound except for a very low tinny sound probably coming from the tweeters plus i could smell burning in both speakers

Well the Peavey Pro 15 is a 4 ohm cabinet to begin with. It's 4 ohm rating is 300 watts continuous/600 watts program.
The amp you have is pushing 750 watts per channel into 4 ohms, a little over powered (you generally want to match the program rating), not by alot - Peavey typically can handle alot more power than they are rated if everything before the amps aree set correctly.
How is your eq set. Also how loud were you trying to go. May sound like a stupid question, how did you connect the amp to the mixer?

When you say a low tinny sound, I assume you mean you were 1) getting only bass (extreme lows like kick drums & bass guitar), or 2) you were only getting the high frequencies (drum cymbals, high end guitar). If it was the first, you blew your compression drivers (not called tweeters in pro audio), if it was the 2nd, you blew the low frequency drivers.

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LIKE Lonman on Facebook - Lonman Productions Karaoke & my main site via my profile!

I'd be having an autopsy before potentially destroying more speakers. I'd take the drivers from the cabs and see what the actual damage is (test the impedence of the drivers). Also, Lonman has a fair point when he asks how the mixer and amp are connected. Doing it wrong could be disastrous.

Unless you mispoke, you state in the original post that you are running the speakers through a mixing amp AND an amp.

Were you running the speakers/amp through the AUX section of the mixing amp or through the amplified section?

If you amplified the signal in the mixing amp, then amplified it AGAIN in the other amp, THEN fed it to the speakers, then you straight up FRIED them!!

If you were to use that amp with that mixing am, you would want to make sure you were bypassing the actual amp section of the mixing amp by using the AUX sends out to the other standalone amp.

I actually have no idea what would happen if you ran an amp through another amp, but it certainly wouldn't be good.

Is that what you did??

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C Mc
KJ, FL

Am I looking at the wrong specs? The ones I found for the Pro15 said it was an 8ohm cab rated at 200/400/800. However, even so a 300/600/1200 cabinet should have little problem dealing with an amp spec'ed at 750W.

Back to the OP, based on what you've described, it sounds like you burned up the voice coils on the 15's. That tells me you very likely had distortion somewhere in the system. Are you running with a sub-woofer or just those two way cabs? I too am curious about your EQ. I've seen so many DJ's/KJ's try to make up for not having a sub-woofer by driving their full range cabinets far too hard in the low end. If you've got the low end in your EQ jacked way up to try and drive more bass out of your Pro-15's, then that's likely where your problem started. Bass frequencies take far more power to produce than do higher frequencies. As a result, it is a lot easier to induce distortion by over driving the lower frequencies.

Be honest with yourself and us about how this is configured. I'd hate to see you go a spend more money on speakers just to blow them again. We'll help you get to the bottom of this as long as you give us the facts

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DJ Tony
Let It Rip Karaoke

Hi Guys
Here is the set up from lap top into extenal soundcard into main out jack sockets on Behringer PMP3000 into Behringer EP2500 then using XLR into Peavey Pro 15 speakers. No EQ NO Subwoofer just the above

thanks

The Peavet PRO 15 are 4ohm cabinets ..don't confuse with the PR15 speakers.

There are many variables into why your speakers BLOWN. Assumming they were in good condition to begin with and were connected properly.

That is just too much amp for those speakers and were pushed too hard would be my guess. But isn't it odd to blow both at the same time ????

Need more information I think -- How was the amp set up --are there dip switches on that model ???

Guys.....the PMP3000 is an AMP. The EP2500 is an AMP. He is not bypassing the amp section of the PMP3000 if he is running out of the main outs. So, he has a 2X450 watts @ 4 ohms amp (PMP3000) plugging DIRECTLY into a 2X650 watts @ 4 ohm amp(EP2500) THEN going to the speakers.

I don't know exactly hat happens when you amplify an amp with another amp, but even if it just SUMS, then he is putting 1100 watts @ 4 ohms in to each speakers. The Peavey Pro 15s are rated at 600 watts each @ 4 ohms PROGRAM, so roughly 1200 watts PEAK, and he is feeding them 1100 watts.

That's why he has two blown speakers!!

Smiler, if you are going to use the PMP3000 as a MIXER and have a separate AMP, then you HAVE TO bypass the amp section of the PMP3000!

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C Mc
KJ, FL

Did you connect the speakon connectors at the rear of the PMP3000 to the EP2500?

Assuming you put the speaker output of the PMP3000 into the input of the EP2500 - very bad things would happen. One would hope that the EP2500 has some input protection, and disabled itself, but possibly after sending extreme distortion to the speakers at very high levels. It would be fair to assume the coils in the 15" drivers are toast. Check that your EP2500 is ok too, cus doing that arrangement is very dangerous for the amp - hundreds of times more power on the input than it can take.

Topher, the PMP3000 has two sets of main outs that do bypass the amplifier section. Most powered mixers have such pre-amp outs.

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DJ Tony
Let It Rip Karaoke

As far as i am aware i was doing the right thing according to the manual for the PMP 3000 usin the L/R Main out is what you do if you wish to use a power amp so i presume if i am doing this then i am by passing the amp section of the mixer amp unless anyone else can tell me where i should be coming out of.
i am using speakon connectors from speakers to ep2500 amp

Just looked at the manual (like behringer manuals are worth much), and if you connected the main outs, either 1 or 2, which are 1/4" TRS on the top right of the mixer, then that's correct.

Did you have the speakers loud when they blew?

Yes very unfortunately and when the speakers lost sound there was also a burning smell coming from them

I willing to bet you had the bass/lows turned up on the eq as well?

I think your better bet when you get these speakers fixed/replaced, get a good solid amp & sub or 2 and an external crossover This will help to add to the volume it seems you are looking for, add a good amount of bass & relieves the strain on you main cabinet.

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LIKE Lonman on Facebook - Lonman Productions Karaoke & my main site via my profile!

Smiler,

If it is just the LF drivers that are fried, you could purchase some really good LF drivers for around $50-75 each and repair your cabinets yourself.

It is just a matter of unscrewing the current LF drivers, disconnecting a few wires, connecting them to the new driver, then screwing the new driver back into the cab.

Very simple replacement, and you could have new speakers for $100-150 instead of spending another $500-600.

If you still want to get new speakers, I would be willing to buy the broken Peavey Pro 15s from you if you want to sell them. I'll do the fix and use them as backup speakers or re-sell them. PM me if you are interested!

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C Mc
KJ, FL